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courtesy : Timesofindia.com
- Nine-year-old Dileep Kumar a.k.a A R Rahman slept late, played carrom and hated waking up at 7 a.m to practice at the piano!
- Asked to leave school due to lack of attendance, he quit studies at the age of 15.
- When Rahman’s sister fell seriously ill in 1988, Pir Qadri, who cured her, advised the family to convert to Islam and they did!
- Dileep had a choice of seven names during his conversion. He chose Allah Rakha Rahman.
- Call it a filmi coincidence, his name was Dileep Kumar before he converted to Islam and his wife’s name is Saira Bano!
- His nickname is Isai Puyal.
- Rahman is closest to his mother Kasturi who converted to Kareema Begum.
- A true believer, he offers namaaz five times a day.
- Is superstitious about starting work according to the prayer time in the place of worship close to his heart!
- The maestro loves eating rasam-rice. When busy, he eats lunch at 5 p.m and dinner after midnight!
- Rahman lives in a small two-storey bungalow in Kodambakkam.
- He has three kids Khatija (13), Rahima (10), and son Ameen (5).
- His mother spotted Saira at a dargah and sent a marriage proposal right away!
- Saira Banu is the sister-in-law of Tamil actor Rahman and the daughter of a Chennai-based businessman from Kutch.
- The musician's wife likes to “dress him up” for important occasions; he is mostly dressed in black.
- Rahman loves to shop for music records at the Virgin Records store in New York. Once he landed in NY at 2 a.m and dashed off to the store.
- In Chennai, Rahman takes his family and friends to a Thai joint located behind The Park Sheraton.
- Rahman's long-time associate drummer Shivamani once cooked fish curry for him in London while he was working on Bombay Dreams. Rahman loved it. He's a non-veg but has suddenly stopped eating prawns.
- His Man Friday Swamidurai, fondly called Swami, has been with him since the begining of his career.
- As a bachelor, he used to often use the abbreviation LFA, which stood for ‘Love Failures Association’!
- Rahman usually sees his children off to school before he sleeps after working nights!
- He does not let his wife or children inside the studio when he’s working.
- Khatija doesn’t like her dad signing autographs in school and has asked him not to come there.
- Rahman’s son shares his birthday with him.
- The old keyboard that he used to play as a teenager is still displayed in his studio.
- A master with instruments, he likes dismantling parts and assembling them.
- A good mimic, he loves to imitate lyricist Vairamuthu, who in turn mimics Rahman’s style of walking!
- Rahman usually works in the night but he’s made an exception for SP Balasubramaniam whose songs have all been recorded before 10 pm.
- He likes listening to songs based on the raaga Sindhu Bhairavi.
- When Subhash Ghai once told Rahman during the music of Taal that he would once win an Oscar, Rahman laughed and reply that Indians can’t.
- Jai Ho was initially composed for Yuvvraaj!
courtesy : Timesofindia.com